Classical Field Theory: Prerequisites for Learning

[Jianphys17]

Hi, i would be curious to know what would be the prerequisites for learning the classical field theory !

 

[hilbert2]

You first have to understand the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics of point masses, and also know something about partial differential equations and how to apply Fourier transforms.

 

[Jianphys17]

And also, in particular I wondered if RG's knowledge was needed..

 

[vanhees71]

Take a classical electrodynamics textbook, and you have the paradigmatic example of a classical field theory. What's needed first of all is vector calculus (div, grad, curl, line, surface, volume integrals, Helmholtz's fundmental theorem), augmented by a bit of basic theory on distributions like the Dirac $\delta$ distribution and some Fourier integrals. I think Griffiths book is pretty good as an introduction, including the aforementioned math prerequisites.

What do you mean by RG (I hate unexplained acronyms!)? I know it as abbreviation for "renormalization group", but that's for sure not needed in classical field theory. In QFT it's of course a very important thing, but something you learn when studying QFT not a prerequisite.

 

[Paul Colby]

I'd like to plug "Classical Field Theory" by Davison E. Soper as something one might look at. It covers quite a bit of ground that isn't treated in the usual high energy texts. It's a Dover book so it's cheep.

 

[Jianphys17]

Not, Sorry for the acronym, GR is for general relativity...

 

[vanhees71]

For GR I recommend Landau+Lifshitz vol. II. It's also great for electrodynamics in the relativistically covariant formulation, but I'd recommend to study a less advanced more conventional book on E&M like Griffiths first.